Commonwealth Bank of Australia is selling its life insurance business to AIA Group for A$3.8 billion. The deal is expected to help AIA Group to enter core markets in Asia. AIA said it will team up with Commonwealth Bank for 20 years under the deal to provide life insurance products to customers in Australia and New Zealand. The deal would make AIA the biggest life insurer in Australia and New Zealand, giving it access to 13 million customers of the largest retail bank in Australia and second-largest retail bank in New Zealand, a number equal to more than 40 percent of the combined population of the two countries. For AIA, the deal represents the largest on an absolute basis, bigger than its 2012 purchase of ING Groep’s Malaysian insurance business. The deal represents a move by AIA beyond Hong Kong, China and Southeast Asia into markets where earnings growth has been volatile in recent years.
